Generals' Loss To Hurt Title Game

July 4, 1985|By Jerry Greene of the Sentinel

Although the USFL refuses to confirm it, I'm convinced that Baltimore punt returner Garcia Lane is a cinch for the league's first Most Vicious Player award. Instead of hurting another player, Lane crippled the league's championship game by scoring on a 91-yard punt return to push the Stars past the New Jersey Generals, 20-17, in the playoffs. No Generals in the championship game means little fan interest in the New York-New Jersey area. And that means a modest crowd at best for the game July 14 at Giants Stadium. According to the league, 26,500 tickets (at the startling prices of $28 and $22 each) have been sold. Most of those tickets probably were purchased in anticipation of the Generals being involved. The league now optimisticaly predicts a crowd of 35,000, compared to 52,662 last year at Tampa Stadium. . . . Lane's punt return also may have cost Walt Michaels his job as the Generals' coach. It was Michaels who decided not to play quarterback Doug Flutie in order to protect Flutie's health. And it was owner Donald Trump who stormed out of the loss to Baltimore in the third quarter. ''I'm going to talk to Walt,'' Trump later told reporters. ''I wanted Doug to play.'' Michaels is so sick of the whole thing that he probably doesn't care whether Trump fires him or not.

So who is going to win the title? All the opening-round games went as I predicted, but my pick of Baltimore's beating Oakland in the championship game is going to be tough to pull off. Both teams are on the road this weekend: Oakland at Memphis and Baltimore at Birmingham. Home teams won two-thirds of the USFL games played this season. Tampa Bay Bandits Coach Steve Spurrier picks Memphis to win the title. Orlando Renegades Coach Lee Corso is absolutely positive it will be Memphis against Birmingham in the title game. In fact Corso and I have a fettucini dinner riding on which two teams make the final game. Rumors tell me that the confident Corso is fasting in order to make it a big fettucini dinner. I am worried that Birmingham may get by Baltimore but feel good about Oakland, even on the road. Memphis destroyed Denver last week, and historically a team that wins a playoff game in a rout usually plays flat the next weekend.

The USFL might draw a bigger crowd July 12 if it sold tickets to its next owners' meeting. This guessing game about which teams will be playing where next fall is getting ridiculous. It's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction, but here are a few tidbits that seem reliable: (1) The league actually wants to keep the Gunslingers in San Antionio -- as long as it can get rid of owner Clinton Manges and his magical bouncing checks. Manges made the funniest remark of the week when he said: ''They can't kick me out. I paid my dues.'' (2) Despite Commissioner Harry Usher's efforts, no prospective owner for the LA Express can be found. The Express staff is down to three -- the comptroller, a computer operator and a receptionist. (3) Though the Gold really want to leave Denver for Hawaii, all other league owners are opposed to the road trip. The Gold still could end up in Chicago. (4) The reason the Gamblers aren't going to Chicago is that quarterback Jim Kelly says he won't go -- and his contract gives him the right to pick and choose. Kelly's first choice is to stay in Houston. His second pick is New York, but Usher doesn't want that to happen. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, back in the NFL, it's the agents who are planning to meet Monday in Chicago to discuss the owners' united stand against high-priced contracts. Popular agent Leigh Steinberg has the most at stake because he has four unsigned, first-round picks, including Tampa Bay's Ron Holmes. Normally an optimistic and non-critical person, Steinberg says of the owners' stand: ''I'm sick of their attitude. This has become a propaganda war and . . . we're tired of hearing about the poor state of the NFL without anything to verify the complaints.''